PerkinElmer has launched next-generation DNA sequencing and data analysis services that will focus on human and mouse exome resequencing. Sequencing will be conducted at its lab in Branford, CT. The facility’s sequencing platforms and software suites are backed by a private cloud-computing system.
While PerkinElmer is a big player in the diagnostics segment, it has not had a presence in the sequencing market. Diagnostics contribute 30% of its revenue, which were about $1.8 billion in 2009. The launch of its DNA sequencing services not only marks the importance of sequencing projects to life scientists but also the importance of providing such a service for genomic tool providers.
PerkinElmer’s model follows Complete Genomics, Illumina, and BGI (formerly known as Beijing Genomics Institute), wherein companies provide sequencing as a service rather than developing and launching competing sequencing platforms that scientists must buy to conduct sequencing projects on their own. Helicos, Illumina, Life Technologies, Pacific Biosciences, and Roche are among the biggest suppliers of sequencing technologies.
“We are confident that our technology-agnostic approach—whereby PerkinElmer continually seeks best-in-class platforms to support client requirements—is the correct model for providing pharma and academic researchers with valuable genomic information,” states Richard Begley, Ph.D., president of emerging technologies, PerkinElmer. “Through our services they can achieve results without the associated expense of building in-house capabilities and headcount, dealing with obsolescence in a fast-changing field, or incurring the costs of whole-genome approaches for research paths that may not require them.”
Through PerkinElmer’s service, clients will use the Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencing platform. Data analysis will be done on Geospiza’s genetic analysis and visualization software, Analysis Edition. PerkinElmer’s Janus® Automated Workstations and EnSpire Plate Readers as well as Geospiza’s Lab Edition, a web-based next-generation sequencing LIMS, will be used for sample processing. Exome capture options include Agilent SureSelect, Illumina TruSeq, and Nimblegen EZ Exome.
Next-generation sequencing products had sales approaching $600 million for 2009 with an installed base of about 1,300–1,500 instruments, according to Scientia Advisors. Moving forward, the firm expects these suppliers to generate more than $1.5 billion in sales in 2014. Scientia expects the broader sequencing market to have sales of up to $3.6 billion in 2014.